With UFC 143 win, Fabricio Werdum eyes fight in Brazilian homeland

With a decision over Roy Nelson (16-7 MMA, 3-3 UFC) at this past Saturday’s UFC 143, Werdum has a little job security after a three-year absence from the promotion.

Now, he’d like to fight in his home country when the UFC returns to Brazil in an event targeted for June 2 at a location to be determined.

“I’d prefer to go back to Brazil,” a good-spirited Werdum said following his win.

With a reputation as a submission specialist, many observers expected Werdum to grapple with Nelson when they met in the co-main event of the Super Bowl weekend card, which took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

But Werdum instead delivered an impressive showing on his feet, dominating Nelson with muay Thai throughout the three-round fight.

“I’ve always been confident in my standup and felt that I had it,” Werdum said. “People on the Internet say I’m only good at jiu-jitsu. I wanted to be able to showcase (my standup) today.”

Werdum cut Nelson in the first round with knees and elbows and didn’t relent as the winner of “The Ultimate Fighter 10″ ran low on gas.

“Roy Nelson has a strong punch and good hands,” he said. “I saw that maybe in round three, he tired. We went in the clinch, and I didn’t feel a lot of power. So when I see he tired, I tried to punch or kick and knock him out.”

The former Strikeforce heavyweight also showed a wily trick. At one point during the bout, he pointed to the canvas as if to show Nelson something he dropped.

“I tried to distract him, so if he looked to that point, I was going to kick his head,” Werdum said through a translator.

Although Nelson didn’t take the bait and survived to the final bell, it was an emphatic win.

Werdum joked that his work in close was called the “King’s MMA clinch” after the gym he trains at in Southern California.

“I show for you guys the happy face,” he said, then made a face that closely resembled “The Joker.” “Thank you.”

The Brazil event is expected to feature a middleweight title fight between champ Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen, as well as a middleweight bout between “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil” coaches Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort and the finalists from the reality show.

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